March 28, 2011

First hearing on redrawing lawmakers' districts

Representatives of various racial and ethnic communities asked an Illinois Senate panel today to use a new state law to give them greater representation and influence when new legislative boundaries are drawn.

More than three dozen people offered testimony to the Senate Redistricting Committee at its first public hearing on the highly political and typically secretive mapmaking process.

Redistricting is the oft-contentious process of drawing new political boundaries, ostensibly to reflect population changes from federal Census. The remap is an opportunity for political parties to craft boundaries that help them keep or grow their power.

With Democrats currently in control of the General Assembly and the governor’s office, Republicans have little input into the process and Democrats are expected to draw boundaries that protect their majority for years. GOP leaders have said they plan to use the courts to address any perceived unfairness in a new map.

“This is going to be an interesting process for all of us,” said Sen. Dale Righter of Mattoon, the ranking Republican on the panel. Righter said the public should demand committee hearings after Democrats unveil a proposed map.

A new law recently signed by Gov. Pat Quinn may make the mapmaking process even more complicated. The law requires that racial or ethnic communities of interest be kept together, even if their numbers don’t constitute a majority within a district.

“We really need a champion down in Springfield,” said David Wu, a representative of the Chinatown community that has been split up among multiple legislative districts and now wants a single representative. Wu said the area has suffered in seeking public works projects ranging from a new park fieldhouse, a new library and a high school.

The group proposed a “Greater Chinatown Community Area” encompassing more than 89,000 residents that would be racially diverse, with 10 percent African-American residents and 30 percent each among whites, Latinos and Asian-Americans.

Lawrence Hill, president of the Cook County Bar Association, appeared on behalf of a coalition of African-American groups to urge lawmakers to use the new law to help keep black representation from being “fractured” by being split into multiple districts that dilute their voting strength.

At the same time, however, Hill also said lawmakers shouldn’t pack African Americans into districts in order to prevent the creation of additional districts in which blacks could get elected or influence and election.

With Latinos making up more than 60 percent of Illinois’ population growth, the state’s Hispanic population also is seeking greater representation in Springfield.

Other hearings are scheduled next month in Springfield, Kankakee, Peoria and Cicero.

rap30@aol.com

Posted by Rick Pearson at 9:09 a.m.

The public gets its first say on the highly political process of redrawing the state’s legislative boundaries when the Illinois Senate Redistricting Committee holds its first hearing at noon today in Chicago.

The hearing is the first of at least five scheduled across the state by the Democratic-led panel. Sen. Kwame Raoul, the Chicago Democrat who chairs the committee, has said he wants to get input from various groups representing racial and ethnic minorities who would be the most likely to mount any legal challenge to a new map.

Redistricting is the oft-contentious process of drawing new political boundaries, ostensibly to reflect changes in population as a result of the every-decade federal census. But beyond the population counts, redistricting also involves political parties crafting map lines to keep and grow their political power.

With Democrats in control of the House and Senate and the governor’s office, Republicans are expected to have little formal role in redrawing legislative districts -- if Democrats can all agree.

Of potential concern to Democrats is the loss of 200,000 people in Chicago during the last decade. To maintain the city’s prominent influence, mapmakers are facing the likelihood of having to extend the boundaries of city districts further into the suburbs.

Among groups scheduled to testify today is the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community -- an umbrella group for eight Asian-American service organizations. A new law backed by the group is aimed at preventing politicians from splitting up communities that have a substantial racial, ethnic or language makeup even though their numbers may not constitute enough to represent the majority in a prospective district.

Other hearings are scheduled next month in Springfield, Kankakee, Peoria and Cicero. Raoul said he expects to schedule additional hearings.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.